


In Lieu of Low Pressure Sodium

by FishLeather



Category: Original Work
Genre: Darkness, Fear, Gen, Gothic, Ominous, POV First Person, Vage, the triple threat!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 12:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20693789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FishLeather/pseuds/FishLeather
Summary: Originally titled The Almanac, this was going to be the beginning of the third chapter of a yet-unpublished story. it took on a life of its own. enjoy?





	In Lieu of Low Pressure Sodium

The moonless night was terrifyingly dark through human eyes. There had been a blackout, a few minutes after the streetlamp lights signaled children to run home for dinner. I couldn't see my watch any more, and didn't know how long it'd been. Bad luck was brewing, and it felt like the whole town was holding its breath.

Most of the shops had closed up early, knowing few customers would be enticed by the dead neon tubes affixed to unreadable signs, but that didn't stop the owners from sitting out on the porches by candlelight. I knew I didn't belong there, and they knew it too. The traffic had retreated to garages and driveways, so I walked down the middle of the street, feeling like countless eyes were staring at the back of my neck. I turned around more than once, each time seeing a few less candles, until there was only one. I didn't turn around to see if it would leave me, I didn't want to lose my sense of direction.

The motionless air against my skin was so stale it was nearly oppressive. I mentally thanked the crickets for their noise, as silence with all the rest combined would have killed me. The sinking silhouettes against the sky told me I had left the town behind. It was open road and open sky.

I was still walking, hours later, but my legs didn't hurt. After what must have been invisible miles of road, I raised my watch to my ear, not caring about how strange it would look while alone in the darkness. I let out a breath when I heard the ticking. Somehow, I had been afraid that time itself had stopped.

Like a tin soldier with leaden eyes, I stumbled blindly through the night. Any time I felt like sitting, resting, dying, I felt the staring again, on the back of my neck, the fear winding me up like a toy until the very idea of stopping was enough to drive me into a manic sprint through the oil-slick void. At some point the pavement had given way to gravel, and in panic I hadn't noticed until the crunch of stones was louder than both the crickets and my own then-deafening heartbeat.

In the distance, there was a light, swallowed by darkness, but light all the same. I moved slowly towards it, not wanting it to be some kind of mirage. The fears of staring eyes were nearly gone, as if I had been driven far enough that they were satisfied. As I crept closer, there were two buildings, a very small one near the road, and a much larger one, further back. With closeness I could see some detail of the small one, a shack that had a single, dirty window, with a single candle burning.

I walked quietly up to the door, unfortunately facing a different direction from the window. It was hard to tear myself from the light long enough to pound on the door, but I knocked loudly three times before stepping back at an angle to have the door in view while I could look at the light again, spilling like a puddle of gold onto the patchy grass. 

In a single instant, two things happened. The door opened, and the flame, of its own accord, blew out.


End file.
